Vines of Ivy
by shmillie
Summary: A quirky, big eyed girl is thrown into a certain Cursebreaker's life and their paths collide. But she's got a problem. BW/OC. Fluffy.
1. The Meeting

**Hewwo, my fellow readers(and writers). This is a sweet little fic about Bill W. and a OC who has a bit of a problem...It's got a bit of Angyst, but it's mostly just fluff. =] Fluff, fluff, fluff. Have fun!**

**Disclaimer: Aw, how I wish it all belonged to me. Sadly, it's my best-friend-for-life, J.K. Rowling! (Except Ivy is all from my head.)**

A sweet smell of coffee and butterbeer in the air did nothing to attract the senses from the fact that the formerly bustling bar held but a few occupants this early in the morning. The rusted old watch that Bill had gotten from Mum 8 years ago had yet not struck 7:30 A.M., and the chilled fog crept among the streets, forcing residents to safely hide inside their houses. The hard soles of his boots clomped softly against the hardwood floors and he draped his cloak over a chair halfheartedly.

"One firewhis-"

Bill looked down at his hands and remembered his Mum's face as she gave him the scratched watch now slung around his right wrist and her warm, warm hug.

_We picked it out special for our Billy. I hope you like it, dear._

"Actually, a sweet tea. Whole milk and cinnamon." he told Rosmerta, still looking like his Mum makes. God, he missed his family. The constant bickering made for a good headache, surely, but there was no place quite like the Burrow.

Rosmerta disappeared into the back with a slight puzzled look, blond curls swinging, and he heard dishes clanking. He took this opportunity to observe the pub. Two thugs sat in the front, talking in angry voices and slamming their fists. A person(man or woman?) lay slumped in a booth alone, covered in a thick veil to the floor. That was it. All Bill had to choose from to talk to was a pair of goons and a veiled lump. He _had_ to talk to someone. Wait, no. There in the far far corner was a young woman with long hair sitting with a steaming cup of coffee, an array of books, and the side of her head pressed against the window looked approachable, Bill thought, a bit more cheerful. He took the sweet tea from Rosmerta, which was emitting a luscious smell, and stood up, the creak of his chair loud in such a quiet place.

_Creeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaak._

And he had not a moment to prepare himself before striding across the pub with the long, confident footsteps that has replaced awkward clumsiness since he'd turned 16.

"Er...hey." It had been a good idea when he'd been across the room, fantasizing about sweet tea. Now he was awkward and uncomfortable. The girl looked up, with huge eyes. She furrowed her brow for a second and then replied.

"Um. Hello." A sweet, soft lilting voice with a slight tendency to say _thees_ instead of this.

"Can I sit here? I mean, there's not much company here." Bill said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck, impatient. He'd always been impatient.

"Um, sure. It does get a bit lonely sometimes." She agreed, looking down for a second.

He studied her for a second, sipping his tea, and concluded to the fact that she was pretty. He supposed. Completely average. You know, like an ordinary British citi....

_Oh sod it._

She was beautiful. Well, in a quirky, odd sort of way that made you look twice but not necessarily like what you were facing. Messy blue black tresses reflected the light and wove in and out with dark sable curls that dusted a delicate frame down to her lower back. She was almost too delicate, the way her pale thin wrists so lightly masked the sharp bone inside and the high contours of her face. Huge, dark blue gray eyes fleckled with silver gave the world an curious look and were framed by vastly long dark eyelashes, hidden under the framework of her hair. She wore a floorlength cloak. Her hair was worn freely and loose. She gave an embarrased little cough, and tucked a curl behind her earl self-conciously. Bill realized in a start that he'd been staring, and he smiled in an attempt to loosen the tense feeling.

"I'm Bill. And you are...."

"Ivy."

"So, tell me about yourself. Childhood to now. 12 years or so, right?"

Ivy laughed and pondered, thinking about her life.

"Well...I wahs born een St. Petersburg, Russia. I leeved there with my parents, because I wahs an only child.I moved here when I was 12 years oldh. Erm...I went to 'ogwarts here but I was moved a'ead sume years because in Russia they already taught me most of the majick. I absolutely _adored_ Care of Magical Creatures. So I went to Hogwarts, had my fair share of crushes and adventures and new things. My best friend was named Natalie, and she was the most loyal friend ever. She looked like a pug dog, and just as loyal." A smile grew on her face. "Then I graduated, got my own flat, and here I am today. I work with animals. I 'ave had a boring life." Ivy frowned slightly. "Simpel, I guess, but boring." She looked up at Bill again, who was looking slightly intrigued.

"Your turn." She said quiet and soft, fiddling with the handle of her coffee cup.

Bill stared at her for a second, then broke into a grin.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like Cleopatra?"

"Sorry?"

"You know, the Egyptian princess."

"Erm...Alright."

She kept her hands tucked within her lap and her head bent, her face receded in the confines of her hair.

"Yeah, well, my life has been very interesting so far, due to the fact that I have 5 brothers and 1 sister." This drew a little gasp from Ivy, who nodded in envy. "Wow, you're so lucky. I woodh do anything to 'ave seeblings." Bill smiled but shook his head. "Uh-uh. Never. They're nothing but trouble. But..well, I still love them. So anyways, I lived here all my life with my parents and siblings. I, er, went to Hogwarts. Um. When I was 11, and, er. Went to school, and, erm....." Bill trailed off, not able to ignore those melted gray eyes boring into his face. Ivy looked surprised. "Deed I do something wrong?"

"Oh, no, not at all." He shrugged it off with a little, nervous laugh. _Just the fact that I can't talk when you're looking at me with those scary eyes....Snap out of it, Bill! Concentrate!_

"As I was saying, I went to Hogwarts and got through school. My best friend was Nymphadora Tonks. Crazy witch with neon colored hair. You'll be blown away if you meet her. We did this one _hilarious_ prank where...."

So they talked, the two strangers meeting in a empty pub on an early Tuesday morning. They went through endless cups of sweet tea and coffee, and they talked. They talked till Bill's tarnished watch sounded 10:00, and still as Bill leapt up shouting about being late to work, there was something there. The soft smile in his goodbye, the way Ivy held herself that day, all through the next week, and grinned to herself at the most random moments. The way that they looked at each other, the way that Bill knew he had laughed more than he had in a year. And to a person passing by the Three Broomsticks on that chilly morning, they would've looked like something special too.

**Enjoy it? It's still a little rough, so I'd love your suggestions. Thanks, guys!**

**You can go to my profile for pics of Ivy/Cleopatra! Actually, my avatar is how I really imagined her.**


	2. Blushes, Bruises, and Bill

Ivy sat in the dark room, alone, by the window while a thunderstorm raged outside. She held a thick, leather bound photo album in her pale arms. The people in the pictures waved, familiar, up to her, smiling and blowing kisses. _Mama, Papa. Why'd you have to leave me? _She thought weakly, watching the rain pitter patter outside. The album was placed down gently with pallid, long fingers and the floating of her footsteps as she crossed the floor might've reminded someone of a ballerina. The slightly smoky mirror sent a dark chill through her spine as the true reflection of herself met her eyes. Who was this, this stranger she had become? The sweet smell of rain lingered through the room as the thundering on the window grew louder. She hated mirrors. They reminded her of the constant fact that the bruises on her pallid skin were even more apparent here more than anywhere else.

There was only one word for how she looked in this state: weak.

As soon as her eyelids dropped, it was all that filled her head: Healers shaking their heads in pity, people in the hospital bathroom giving her strange looks as she threw up in a stall. Her towering house in Russia that she had left. It was all gone now, and she could do nothing to fix it. She'd heard the Healer's words, ringing in her ears. _At the most 1 year. Probably less. _No matter what she felt, there was no way to disguise the blue black bruises on her body and the fainting spells that came as often as breathing.

And that night, as she had many nights before, her sobs were the only sounds that lulled her to sleep.

----------------------------------------------

The noise of his family downstairs had been muted to a buzz in Bill's ears as he sat outside, in the receding darkness. He'd thought that he had a lot to think about, which was why he'd escaped to the garden. But now that he was here, nothing came to mind.

Well...there was Ivy.

He hadn't had a crush in a while, unless you counted the brief fling with one of his fellow curse-breakers. But she was blond and slightly ugly, so it had ended as quickly as it had started. He wasn't sure if what he was feeling was a crush. _You've only known her for a day. _The little voice inside of him nagged. Thoughts flooded into his mind, all of a sudden, as if someone had opened up a gate. How Ivy had laughed, with a sweet undertone and dancing eyes. How her little hand had collided with his to reach for the sugar and sparks had flown up his arm.

_You've only known her for a day._

It was too confusing. There was only one thing he could do.

"I'M GOING TO SLEEP!" Bill yelled into the dark sky.

Then stomped into the house.

**REVIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW, my dear readers. Please. I beg of you.**

**Sorry for the extremely short chapter.  
**


	3. When Cleopatra falls

Ivy grabbed her scarf just in time to save it from flying away in the wind. _Thank God._

And this would make it the 15th time that had happened today.

She retied it around her neck. It was extremely important to her. _Well, alright. Not really. _It'd been left behind by some great aunt that Ivy just remembered as being quite obese. But she was a _bit_ of a packrat, and besides, the yellow and blue pattern went well with her boots.

It was about 9:30 in the morning, and the wind was blowing at about 8000 mph. (She had never been good at math.) Ivy was on her way to work, taking the shortcut through Diagon Alley. She strolled at a brisk pace, as to keep up with the huge crowd swilling around at this time, but paused at a huge white building. Gringotts rose above her, pinpricking the cheery blue sky. Knowing that she needed money to buy her boss's leaving present, she checked in her pocket for her vault key before starting towards Gringotts.

She loped up the stairs, but in her hurry, skipped a step. A chubby man with quite a strange mustache shouted something inaudible at her. The next thing she knew, she was falling, down, down, down, it seemed, until...._Ooof._

Ivy expected to feel atleast some pain and see a little blood, but instead all she felt supporting her was a pair of firm...arms?

She looked curiously up into a pair of familiar, sparkling blue eyes. The person who had caught her exclaimed.

"Cleopatra!"

Bill hoisted her up, and smiled inwardly at the coincidence.

Still dizzy from her fall, Ivy fell onto him clumsily as soon as she was standing.

"Woah, a little clumsy, aren't we?" Bill said, laughing, as he extracted her(rather sorrowfully) from his chest, and her arms from around his neck. Her blue black curls were thrown up in a messy bedhead bun, and he was a bit shocked to see that the pale skin of her arms was basically translucent and covered in dozens of blue black bruises.

"Are...Are you okay?" Bill asked, concerned. Unable to help himself, he let a shaking hand touch one of the bruises on her arm.

"Yeah I-" Ivy broke off into a hacking cough. "Oh damn." She winced and let out a little painful sigh. "I think I sprained my ankle." Bill told her she needed something to eat and some rest. After severe protesting, Ivy finally gave in.

She handed Bill her cellphone and the number for her boss, and after making a quick call to her office, they set off for a small cafe that Bill promised was "smashing".

Bill held one arm tight around Ivy's waist and she kept an arm around his shoulders to support her limp.

Autumn had fallen upon London without anyone quite realizing, and the crisp air felt good against her skin as the sky rolled out yet another bout of breezy weather. She sneaked a peek sideways(actually, up: she was only 5'4) at Bill. The profile of his face set a firm outline against the blue sky. Friendly, crinkled eyes the tone of cornflowers, rather long ginger hair, and _woah._ Probably over 6 feet tall.

Without realizing what she was doing, Ivy reached up and brushed her lips lightly against Bill's cheek. He looked a bit surprised at first.

"Thank you so much. If I'd fallen down there, God knows what state I would've been in right now."

It was one thing being so intimate with a familiar person, but being with a _stranger_. Ivy's mum would've had a fit. She looked around nervously, as if expecting her mum to pop out of the bushes, and then laughed at how ridiculous she was being. Her mum was _dead._

Bill gave her a slightly strange look and Ivy realized with a start that she'd laughed out loud.

"Everything okay?"

"Oh..yeah, just remembering something."

There was an awkward pause.

"I just wanted to-"

"I was wondering if you-"

They both spoke at once. Ivy blushed and bit her lip in a smile. Bill laughed quietly.

"You go, mine wasn't important." She said, giggling softly.

"Well, I was just wondering if...Well, we're having this dinner party at my parent's house and I was just wondering if you'd like to come. I'm sure my family would love to meet the famous Cleopatra in the flesh."

Ivy paused for a second.

Then, without taking a breath,

"I'd love to meet the rest of your carrot top family."


End file.
